Technology's Impact on Society
Technology has had a tremendous impact on our society. Almost every aspect of our life has become dependent on it. Technological innovations have provided us with sophisticated products and services that have made communication and productivity unprecedentedly faster, effective and efficient than ever before. Technology provides us with more viable solutions to the immense challenges we are faced with in the contemporary society. In fact, rapid advancements in this field have left no stone unturned particularly in becoming the greatest source of learning source for not only the present generation but those to two. However, these have resulted into a host of social ills including addition, delinquency, cyber insecurity, infringement on privacy rights, and mental and physical health problems. This paper argues that despite its great potential, rapid technological advancement is increasingly making the society less sociable, elevating adolescence delinquency, and breeding poor health outcomes.
Lack of Social Skills
First, a lack of social skills is perhaps the most common and perverse consequences of technological advances. Carbonell and Panova observe that "SNSs have had global mass appeal and their often frequent use - usually by young people - has triggered worries, discussions, and studies on the topic of technological and social networking addictions" (49). Dinleyici et al. voices similar concerns by noting that "new (mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, and social media) and traditional media (television) have come to dominate the lives of many children and adolescents" (1). Recent statistics compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau revealed that American youth (13 to 18 years) spend about nine hours on entertainment media on average a day while those aged between 8 to 12 years spend close to six hours on these media. With these alarming statistics, it is imperative to ask the question: Do these children find adequate time to develop their social skills? The answer is definitely, NO! Vast use of these technological solutions in school, business and even at home implies that many people meet less frequently face-to-face leading to an absence of much needed social skills. Opponents would argue that the advanced media, especially the Internet, create a global network or community that allow people to interact with their family members, friends, colleagues, business associates and partners, and other people any time any place without necessarily meeting face-to-face. On the surface, technology may appear to make communication easier, convenient, faster, and cheaper. But in fact, these online friends and communities replace real-life communication. Research shows that the lack of strong social 'ties inherent in the "shallow" online friends results to loneliness, shyness, depression, and other symptoms of addiction (Bian and Leung 61). Therefore, overdependence on these media is a threat to the ability and opportunities for developing social skills.
Aggressive Behavior
Second, excessive viewership of traditional and new media, as well as social media can aggravate aggressive behavior in children and adolescents. Jeong et al. found out that heavy doses of social networking sites cause disregard of harmful consequences (12). Strasburger, Donnerstein, and Bushman similarly associated with extremely violent scenes depicted on local TV shows to aggressive behavior and attitudes, desensitization to in young people (572). Carbonell and Panova offer an explanation to the link between the technologies and delinquency by asserting that "although SNSs can provoke certain negative consequences in a subset of their users or provide a platform for the expression of preexisting conditions, this is not sufficient support for their standalone addictive power" (48). Many shows aired on local TV, Internet, and video games harbor violence-rich content. The majority immerse the viewers into a world of fantasy, consequently impairing their perception of reality. As a result, many teenagers may demonstrate less empathy and unwillingness to help others, as well as perceive aggressive behavior to be normal and appropriate in some instances (Jeong et al. 13). A positive counter to this argument would be that these technologies provide unique entertainment. The proponents of this claim may assert that these innovations provide some kind escape from the hustle and bustle of life. However, this argument does not hold water because there are far much more healthy forms of entertainment and escape than media. Instead of being absorbed by a laptop or a tablet, for example, one can choose to swim, participate in athletics, or even go to an adventure. These alternatives can help not only become physically fit but also burn calories and avoid lifestyle problems such as obesity, overweight, and cardiovascular diseases (Bouchard 7).
Health Problems
Lastly, the advancement of technology brings about serious health problems. As identified earlier, many people spend a lot of their free time watching TV, surfing the Internet and social networking platforms, and playing video games. These technologies take time away from much-needed play and exercise activities. Bouchard identifies that "there is considerable evidence supporting the important role of physical activity in the primary and secondary prevention of obesity and obesity-related diseases" (7). The scholar emphasizes that physical exercises are particularly or great benefit for a total of 25 chronic conditions, including type 2 diabetes, In their study, Kenney and Gortmaker linked adolescents' television, computer, video game, smartphone, and tablet use to sweetened beverages and obesity (145). From my experience with using some of these media, I have seen people develop very poor eating habits that expose them to these health problems. For example, many people would substitute health diets with snacks and sugary drinks. Also, I have often experienced sleeping problems after watching TV, playing video games, or surfing the Internet - an outcome that is consistently documented in existing literature (Kenney and Gortmaker 145). A possible counter to this point is that people are rational beings and thus, they can use these technologies responsibly. That is, they can control their TV, computer, video game, smartphone, and Internet use to avoid these health problems. In rebuttal, I would advance the argument that these innovations are extremely addictive. Jeong et al. established that the use of social networking sites and games positively predict smartphone addiction (15). Therefore, it takes a lot of effort to avoid their appeal.
In Conclusion
In summary, there is no doubt that the advancement in technology brings about great benefits to society. Technology has modernized the way we live, the way we do business, the way we communicate, the way we order food, the way we eat, the way we get entertainment, and much more. However, the Internet, Television, iPods, smartphones, laptops, video games, and other advanced technologies present a considerable challenge to society. Therefore, there is a need to advocate for appropriate use of these innovations to not only enjoy the benefits that accrue on them but also avoid their negative consequences as well.
Works Cited
Bian, Mengwei, and Louis Leung. "Linking loneliness, shyness, smartphone addiction symptoms, and patterns of smartphone use to social capital." Social Science Computer Review 33.1 (2015): 61-79.
Bouchard, Claude. Physical Activity and Obesity 2nd Edition. Human kinetics, 2000.
Carbonell, Xavier, and Tayana Panova. "A critical consideration of social networking sites’ addiction potential." Addiction Research & Theory 25.1 (2017): 48-57.
Dinleyici, Meltem, et al. "Media Use by Children, and Parents’ Views on Children's Media Usage." Interactive journal of medical research 5.2 (2016).
Jeong, Se-Hoon, et al. "What type of content are smartphone users addicted to?: SNS vs. games." Computers in Human Behavior 54 (2016): 10-17.
Kenney, Erica L., and Steven L. Gortmaker. "United States adolescents' television, computer, videogame, smartphone, and tablet use: associations with sugary drinks, sleep, physical activity, and obesity." The Journal of pediatrics 182 (2017): 144-149.
Strasburger, Victor C., Ed Donnerstein, and Brad J. Bushman. "Why is it so hard to believe that media influence children and adolescents?." Pediatrics
133.4 (2014): 571-573.
